The Mindframe National Media Initiative

One of Mindframe's industry specific resources. Mindframe program manager Jaelea Skehan says: ‘The LIFE Framework forms part of our induction program for all staff. Action Area 3, Improving community strength, resilience and capacity in suicide prevention, is of particular importance. Improving the media’s knowledge and coverage of suicide and mental illness has been shown to directly affect a community’s ability to respond to distressing life events.’

Funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, the Mindframe National Media Initiative is a comprehensive strategy that aims to influence media representation of issues related to mental illness and suicide, encouraging responsible, accurate and sensitive portrayals. The Initiative is guided by the National Media and Mental Group, with representatives from peak media and mental health organisations. The strategy includes a number of projects which have focussed on providing resources and education opportunities for media professionals, facilitating the inclusion of these issues in tertiary journalism and public relations education, the mental health and suicide prevention sector, police and courts, and those involved in the development of Australian film, television and theatre.The Hunter Institute of Mental Health NSW manages all projects except StigmaWatch (SANE Australia) and the media monitoring Studies (Melbourne University) funded under the Mindframe Initiative. Combined, these are called the Mindframe Education and Training Projects.

Aims

Mindframe aims to build a collaborative relationship with the Australian news media to enable a more accurate and sensitive portrayal of suicide and mental health issues.

Duration

1997: ResponseAbility began. 1999: StigmaWatch began.
1999: Achieving the balance produced. 2000: Mindframe commenced.
2000: ResponseAbility for Journalism Education multi-media resource kit developed.
2001: Base-line Media Monitoring Project conducted.
2002: Current media resource Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness developed and Media and Mental Health project began.
2004: Mindframe for the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Sector began and associated resources developed (2005).
2006: Mindframe for Stage and Screen commenced and associated resources developed (2007).
2007: Follow-up Media Monitoring Project completed.
2007: Mindframe for Police and Courts commenced and associated resources for the Courts and the Police developed (2008).
2009: Response Ability expanded to include Public Relations Education.

Location

Mindframe is based at the Hunter Institute of Mental Health in Newcastle, NSW and operates as a national initiative. Over 3,000 media professionals receive regular Mindframe updates.

Model

The Mindframe model includes:

• conducting a national and international evidence-based review;
• developing resources by engaging leading sector professionals;
• developing key partnerships with peak organisations;
• actively distributing resources via conferences, post and online;
• face-to-face meetings and training; and 
• ongoing follow-up and evaluation.

Activities

Mindframe provide a range of education and training projects as outlined in the sections below:  

Mindframe Media and Mental Health Project

• Mindframe Media and Mental Health project  aims to build a collaborative relationship with the Australian news media (print, radio, television, and online news) through development and dissemination of evidence based resources and sector engagement to enable a more accurate and sensitive portrayal of suicide and mental illness.

Mindframe for the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Sector

• Mindframe for the Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Sector supports the mental health and suicide prevention sectors to build collaborative relationships with the media and to facilitate better understanding about issues to consider when working with the media around mental illness and suicide.

Response Ability Journalism and Public Relations

• Response Ability project for Journalism and Public Relations Education aims to influence tertiary curriculum so that graduates in journalism and public relations will be aware of and able to respond to issues relating to suicide and mental illness.

Mindframe for Stage and Screen

• Mindframe Stage and Screen  provides practical advice and information to support the work of scriptwriters and others involved in the development of Australian film, television and theatre. It is designed to help inform truthful and authentic portrayals of mental illness and suicide.

Mindframe for Police and Courts

• Mindframe for Police and Courts aims to support best practice reporting of suicide and mental illness through the provision of resources and professional development police and courts stakeholders in each state and territory of Australia.
  

Other funded Mindframe projects include:

SANE Media Centre and StigmaWatch

• The Initiative also supports SANE Australia's Media Centre and StigmaWatch program. StigmaWatch encourages wider public scrutiny of media stigma and promoting progressive reporting. A selection of StigmaWatch and Good News reports are published on the website, including responses.

Media Monitoring Project – 2001 and 2006

• Under the Mindframe Initiative, two large-scale media monitoring projects in Australia have provided information about the way Australian news media report suicide and mental illness. The project tracked reporting of suicide and mental illness in the Australian media over a 12-month period, from September 2006 to August 2007. This was a follow-up study, comparing the original 12-month monitoring period in 2000-2001. The Media Monitoring Study shows that while the number of suicide and mental health related stories in the Australian media has increased almost two fold since the inception of the Mindframe guidelines in 2002, the overall quality of reporting has also improved.

Mindframe develops resources for:

• media professionals;
• journalism students and lecturers;
• mental health and suicide prevention professionals;
• stage and screen writers;
• police; and 
• courts.

Mindframe have an extensive range of online and print resources for media, mental health professionals, police, courts, and stage and screen which can be easily accessed from the Mindframe website.
 
Mindframe also facilitates:

• resource development;
  
• discussion;
• media briefings;
• literature reviews; and 
• responsible reporting.  

Evaluation

Evaluation is conducted on an ongoing basis covering:

• internally conducted computer-assisted telephone interviews;
• follow-up phone calls;
• evaluation surveys following training sessions; and 
• external media monitoring.

Lessons learned

• Meaningful partnerships are the key to engaging people outside of the mental health sector.  
• Encourage media organisations to develop real partnerships with mental health organisations.

Project partners

Mindframe key partnerships consist of the following:

• non-government organisations, peak mental health and suicide prevention sector bodies (e.g. SANE Australia, beyondblue, Suicide Prevention Australia, Lifeline, headspace, Inspire, Multicultural Mental Health Australia);
• Australian universities offering a journalism course;
• media outlets (e.g. ABC, SBS, Fairfax and News Limited);
• Australian Writer’s Guild; and 
• national, state and territory government health departments and area health services.

More information

Visit the Mindframe website , email mindframe@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au or call (02) 4924 6904. For more information on specific Mindframe projects please see Mindframe Overview 2010 (348.47kB).